Boosting Office Attendance: A Summary of how to Deliver Workplace Value to Employees

Many companies and their employees remain out of sync on the amount of time workers should be in the office, according to a CoreNet Global and CBRE joint survey of 235 corporate real estate professionals. This finding makes it readily apparent that companies must do a better job of aligning the anticipated benefit of the office with the employee experience and building a culture and workplace that supports that value proposition. Below are the Top summary conclusions:

Office Attendance Is Mission-Critical for Corporate Success

Point 1: Most Corporate Leaders Believe In-Office Time Is Critical

92% of survey respondents indicated that the office is an important part of ensuring corporate success, with half holding this belief for all job functions.

Point 2: Leadership Expectations for Office Attendance Still Not in Sync with Employee Behavior

Respondents indicated that, corporate leaders want employees in the office 3.4 days per week, while the actual rate is 2.8 days.

Point 3: Corporate Leaders Expect Increase in Office Attendance

41% of respondents expect that attendance will increase from current levels. However, over half who expect an increase do not believe their employees are aligned with leadership beliefs about the purpose of the office. More action likely is needed by the employers to influence employee behavior.

Point 4: CRE Workplace Experience Strategies do exist and are working:

The gap between companies’ office attendance expectations and their employees’ behavior likely will close in 2024 as corporate messaging, company culture, and the workplace are adjusted to match the value proposition of the office.

• 50% of respondents said they are redesigning their offices to accommodate new working patterns.

• 1/3rd of respondents are experimenting with upgrading services and amenities to provide a better in-office experience.

• 25% are relocating to newer buildings that have better services, parking, access to food services: aka Flight to Quality.

• 1/3rd of respondents said they are measuring workplace effectiveness metrics as a means to help to drive corporate success, which includes metrics on employee engagement, and employee retention.

Conclusion: Reinforcing the Value Proposition of the Office

2/3rds of respondents said they were communicating their expectations of office attendance to their employees, but this alone does not appear enough to motivate employees to work in the office more frequently. 

Interpersonal connections such as: collaboration, knowledge sharing and relationship building are critical to the most important values cited and therefore are difficult to foster in a virtual work environment. Professional development-based values such as mentorship, onboarding and learning & development are also cited by more than half of respondents. 
Employee attendance improves when company leadership effectively communicates the value proposition of the office. 

• 57% of companies that clearly communicated the value of the office reported that employees were in the office more than three days per week. 

• 37% of survey respondents said their companies are working on aligning the culture of the office with those benefits. 

• >50% of those respondents employing change management strategies for greater office attendance shared that having corporate leaders act as role models for the desired attendance rate along with retraining managers to set new team standards for in-office working. 

• 16% are putting employees hired during the pandemic through a reorientation process that encourages office attendance. FAct: there are nearly 2 million more office-using jobs today than in 2019.